Railroad container bracket structure

ABSTRACT

This invention pertains to a railroad car container bracket mounted on transverse sideplate means attached periodically to the sides of the railroad car deck. The bracket is pivoted on an axis transverse to the longitudinal centerline of the car and constructed in such a manner as to prevent longitudinal, transverse, and vertical movement of a container. When the brackets are in position supporting the four bottom corners of a container the bracket will transmit impact forces to the deck of the railway car in a unique manner which shields the bracket pivot pin from damaging shearing forces. The bracket also contains a spring-loaded pivot latch which prevents dislodgement of the container in a vertical direction, especially when the container is empty and subjected to high-wind loading which tends to tip an empty container from the deck of the container car.

United States Patent [72] lnventors Walter J. Marulic Gary, lnd.; Ray L. Ferris, Thornton, ll]. [21] Appl. No. 888,665 [22] Filed Dec. 29, 1969 [45] Patented Dec. 28, 1971 [73] Assignee Pullman Incorporated Chicago, Ill.

[54] RAILROAD CONTAINER BRACKET STRUCTURE 11 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. C1 105/366 D, 105/366 C [51] Int. Cl ..B6ld i5/00, B65j 1/22 [50] Field of Search 105/366 C, 366 D; 248/1 19, 361; 280/179; 292/74 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,755,120 7/1956 Young et a1. 105/366 C 2,002,439 5/1935 Owens 105/366 D 3,167,028 l/1965 Gutridge et a1. 105/366 A Primary ExaminerDrayton E. Hoffman Attorneys-Hilmond O. Vogel and Wayne Morris Russell ABSTRACT: This invention pertains to a railroad car container bracket mounted on transverse sideplate means attached periodically to the sides of the railroad car deck. The bracket is pivoted on an axis transverse to the longitudinal centerline of the car and constructed in such a manner as to prevent longitudinal, transverse, and vertical movement of a container. When the brackets are in position supporting the four bottom corners of a container the bracket will transmit impact forces to the deck of the railway car in a unique manner which shields the bracket pivot pin from damaging shearing forces. The bracket also contains a spring-loaded pivot latch which prevents dislodgement of the container in a vertical direction, especially when the container is empty and subjected to high-wind loading which tends to tip an empty container from the deck of the container car.

In a fi 8 1 o a N VINVENTORS WALTER J MARULIC (7, RAEL FERRIS m M ATT'Y PATENTED UEC28 1971 SHEET 1 BF 3 PATENTEU mas Em SHEET 2 UF 3 IN VEN T098 WALTER J MARULIC R Y L. FERRIS BY I W (/MZQ. v ATT'Y.

PATENTEUUEBZMBYI 231630.155

6 INVENTORS WALTER J. MARULIC YL. FERRIS ATT'Y.

SUMMARY This relates to a container restraining device used on flat deck railway cars for receiving a container. This invention in particular relates to the type of corner bracket which is pivotal on an axis transverse to the longitudinal centerline of the car with the bracket resting on the car deck when inoperation and pivotal into a below deck position in the inoperative position. In operation the bracket will transmit forces impacted against it directly into the car deck in a manner which isolates the bracket pivot pin from shearing forces which would cause its early failure. The pivoted bracket also employs a springloaded and pivoted latching member which holds the cargo container in the bracket preventing vertical movement of the container from the car deck. This pivoted latch is utilized essentially to prevent empty containers from being tipped off or lifted off the railway car when subjected to high crosswinds or other aerodynamic forces. Because the container brackets are pivotal into a below-deck position the container car may carry various size containers without interference from unused container brackets. These and other objects, advantages, and purposes of the invention will become more readily apparent by reference to the following description and attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective illustration of a railway container car employing the container restraining brackets showing how these brackets will restrain two different size containers carried on the deck of the railway car;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of a container-restraining bracket;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the bracket as viewed in FIG. 2 with a partial section depicting the pivoted latch housing and its coil springs;

FIG. 4 is an end elevational view showing the container bracket; 1

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the novel container bracket:

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 7 is a transverse cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the device as illustrated in FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION With reference now to the drawings, there is shown in FIG. I a railway container car 10 having a car deck 10a, center sill I4 and structural supporting beams 14a on each side of center sill 14. The flat car 10 may be of the cushion underframe type and provided with coupling means 110 and the usual trucks 13 with wheels 11 riding on rails 12. The car deck 10a is provided with a plurality of container corner bracket structures 25 disposed along thesides of the car 10 and intermediate the ends thereof which corner brackets 25 are adjustable or pivotal and is further provided with fixed or nonpivotal end comer brackets 25a. Container corner brackets 25a cooperate with the pivoted container comer brackets 25 for supporting a container 121. j

The pivoted container brackets 25 as illustrated in FIG. 1 are longitudinally spaced along the sides of the container car 10 in such a manner as to enable the container car to carry either two 40-foot, or four 20-foot or three 24-foot containers. The bracket-supporting arrangements 18, may be either single supports 23 or double bracket supports 24 and extend transversely and laterally from the structural supporting means 14a in such a manner as to allow containers to overhang the edge 10b of the car deck 10a. This makes the container more accessible and facilitates loading and unloading from the container car.

The bracket-supporting arrangement 18 includes top plate 20 affixed to the upper flange 16 of the structural supporting means 14a and having a flange 21 connecting with the underside of the top plate 20 and at the bottom with the vertical web and the lower flange 17 of the structural supporting beam 140. A gusset web 19 forms transverse connection between the flange 21 and the vertical web 15. A corner support member 22 (FIG. 5) is fixedly attached at the outside upper comer 21b to provide support between the top plate 20 the upper flange 16 the gusset web 19 and the vertical web 15. The plate 20 and the upper flange 16 are connected by a weldment at 22b.

Particular attention is now directed to FIG. 5 which illustrates the pivoted container bracket 25 in the on-deck or operative position. The container bracket 25 is composed of a pair of intercoupled hinged portions pivotally connected to a pivot means 26 which is fixedly attached on the underside of the top plate 20. The pivot means 26 comprises a pivotmounting plate 27 having fixedly attached to it three-spaced pivot lugs 28, each having an oversized opening to accommodate a loose fit of the pivot pin 29. The pivot means 26 is fixedly attached to the underside of the top plate 20 in such a position so that the oversized openings in the lugs 28 align with the oversized openings in the vertical shoulders 38 of the pivoted bracket 25 when the bracket is in its operative or ondeck position. In the operative position the back edge 38a of the vertical shoulders 38 is in contact with the contacting edge 20a of the top plate 20 and the spring-housing cover 64 (see FIG. 4) is in line with the outside edge 20b of the top plate 20. When the pivoted bracket 25 and the pivot means 26 are aligned the pivot means is fixedly attached by means of a weldment to the underside of the top plate 20 and the loose-fitting pivot pin 29 is inserted into the oversized adjacent openings of the pivot lugs 28 of the vertical shoulder 38 and constrained therein by the cover washers 30.

Referring now to the main body of the container bracket, it is noticed that the end wall 31 the sidewall 32 and the bottom 33 are arranged in a mutually perpendicular arrangement thus comprising a three sided corner configuration. Supporting ribs 34 extend from a vertical position on the end wall 31 to a horizontal position on the bottom 33 and then to a substantially vertical position by defining the vertical shoulders 38. A rib-connecting member 35 communicates between the two ribs at the junction of the vertical shoulders 38 and the bottom 33. The end wall 31 has an angled upper index portion 37 which operates in conjunction with the upper index portion 36 of the sidewall 32 to guide corner castings of containers into position on the bottom 33 of the container bracket 25. The bottom 33 has a through hole 33a for drainage purposes.

The sidewall 32 has an opening 39 for accommodating positioning of and movement of the pivoted latch 44 (FIG. 5). An end bar 40 is attached at the free end of the sidewall 32 to provide strength in absorbing forces impacted on the raised portion 400 of the end bar 40. On the underside of the angled upper portion 36 of sidewall 32 is fixedly attached a spacer plate 41 which provides a flat surface for the mounting of the spring housing 42 (FIG. 6). The spring housing 42 is fixedly attached to the sidewall 32 by fasteners 43 and includes a cylindrical body 65 having one end enclosed by the spring-housing cover 64 and the opposite end having a flange 67 fixedly secured to it. As best illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, the cylindrical body 65 of the spring housing 42 has an opening 66 in its underside to provide clearance for movement of the pivoted latch 44 about its pivot pin 46. Also, the spring-housing flange 67 has a cutout 68 which is adjacent the opening 39 in the sidewall 32 and provides clearance for movement of the pivoted latch 44. The spacer plate 41 also has an opening (FIG. 6) which conforms with the cutout 6 in the housing flange 67. Below the spring housing 42 are two-spaced pivot lugs 45 (see FIG. 2) which combine with a pivot pin 46 and the lug 53a of the pivoted latch 44 to form the pivot of the pivoted latch 44. The pivot pin 46 is inserted in the adjacent openings of the lugs 45 and 53a and constrained therein by the cover washers 46a.

The pivoted latch 44 extends through the sidewall 32 by means of a series of openings in the' spring housing 42 the housing flange 67 and an opening in the tip 32. The latch is biased by coil springs 63 to remain in position when the assembly is completed. Two concentric coil springs 63 are utilized in place of one larger spring which would be required to perform the same function but which was prohibited because of its restrictive diameter and length which would have increased the diameter of the cylindrical body 65 and prevented the spring-housing cover 64 from being vertically in line with the outside edge 20b of the top plate 20. Short sections of tubing 58 attached to the inside of the cover 64 and the backside 54 of the pivotal latch 44 provide mounting and restraining means for the coil springs 63. The pivoted latch 44 comprises a unitary rigid structure including a latch nose 47 which is narrower than the latch body 48. The nose 47 comprises an arcuate portion 55 extending from the upper extreme of the pivoted latch 56 to the tip 49 of the latch nose 47. From the tip 49 and extending in a substantially horizontal direction is the angled underside 50 of the nose 47.

Attention is now directed to FIG. 6 which best illustrates the remainder of the pivotal latch 44. From the upper extreme 56 of the pivoted latch 44 the backside of the latch 54 extends downward in a diagonal direction until it meets a diagonaL connecting surface 53c which connects the backside 54 and the vertical edge 53b of lug 53a. The front of the latch 54a extends vertically downward from the upper extreme 56 of the pivoted latch 44 until it meets the stop surface 54b which is a horizontal section connecting the lug 53a with the front of the latch 54a. The stop surface 54b of the pivoted latch 44 rests on the lower edge 52 of the cutout 39 and sidewall 32. The lower edge 52 has the beveled comer 53 which insures complete seating of the stop surface 54b of the pivoted latch 44 on the lower edge 52 of the cutout 39.

In the modified fonn of the latch as seen in FIG. 7 the pivoted latch 44 includes an indicator pin 61 which is attached to the backside 54 of the pivoted latch and extends through an opening 62 in the spring-housing cover 64 to indicate when the stop surface 54b of the latch is not seated on the lower edge of the cutout in the sidewall 52 and a container comer casting is not fully engaged. The indicator 61 comprises a solid rod 610 having a vertical slot 61b at its pivoted end and which accommodates the indicator pin-mounting lug 60 which is fixedly attached to the backside 54 and which together with the indicator pin pivot pin 59 form the pivot of the indicator pin 61.

OPERATION The container car 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 is equipped with container brackets longitudinally spaced along the length of the car to accommodate either two 40-foot, or four -foot or three 24-foot containers, any allowable combination thereof. In all such instances each bottom comer of a container is coupled to the container car by the novel container bracket of this invention. As illustrated in FIG. I brackets which are not being utilized for restraining containers may be pivoted into a below deck or inoperative. Upon lowering of the container into position on the container brackets the bottom of the container comer casting 11a will contact the arcuate portion 55 of the latch nose 47 and in so doing cause the latch to pivot about the pivot pin 46. As the pivoted latch 44 moves into the spring housing 42 the coil springs 63 will be compressed. When the opening 11b of the comer casting is adjacent to the nose 47 of the pivoted latch the latch will spring back into such opening and thereby restrict vertical movement of the container. When the latches are in position in the openings of the corner brackets of the container in a position best illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 the latches are biased with substantially horizontal spring force of approximately 350 pounds per latch. This biasing force maintains the latch in position. When removing the container from the bracket a force of approximately 800 pounds must be applied by the corner casting 11a to the angled underside of the nose 47 to overcome the biasing force of the springs 63 and release the container corner castings from the container bracket.

When the indicator pin 61 is attached to the back side 54 of the latch as illustrated in FIG. 7 the pin will protrude through the opening 62 in the cover 64 of the spring housing 42 to indicate that the stop surface 54b of the latch 44 is not in contact with the lower edge 52 of cutout 39 in the sidewall 32 and hence indicates the opening in the comer casting has not received the nose 47 and has not achieved a completely restrained position.

When all four bottom corner castings of the container have been seated in the container bracket and secured therein additional features of the invention become apparent. Referring now in particular to FIG. 5 its is noted that when forces are transmitted from the corner casing in a longitudinal direction they will impinge on the end wall 31 of the container bracket. These forces are transmitted through the end wall to the bottom 33 and from there to the vertical shoulders 38. As mentioned earlier in the detailed description the backs 38a of the vertical shoulders 38 are in contact with the contacting edge 20a of the top plate 20. With these two surfaces 200 and 38a in contact the vertical shoulders 38 will transmit longitudinal forces which have been applied to the end wall 31 into the top plate 20 which in turn transmits forces to the bracket-supporting arrangement 18 and consequently to the car supporting structure in which the forces are dissipated. When transverse forces are transmitted from the comer castings of the container to the raised portion 40a of the end bar 40 of the container bracket these forces are transmitted through the bottom 33 to the vertical shoulders 38 of the container bracket 25. These transverse forces are then transmitted from the vertical shoulders 38 to the pivot lugs 28 which transmit and dissipate forces into the top plate 20 and through the bracket support structure and eventually to the car supporting structure where the forces are dissipated. Upon encountering transverse forces a moment is produced which results in a shear'force on the pivot pin 29. The raised portion 40a is located vertically above the bracket pivot and thereby eliminates a moment which would tend to move the bracket horizontally on the top plate 20. Lateral forces which cause the container comer casting to strike the raised portion 40a (see FIG. 4) produce a moment which tends to lift the vertical shoulder 38 shown on the right in FIG. 4 and thereby result in a shearing force on the pivot pin 29. Since lateral forces are much lower than longitudinal forces and since the raised portion 40a is at the bottom of the bracket (providing a short moment arm) the shear forces received by the pivot pin 29 are of a relatively low magnitude and no damage results. Thus it is illustrated that upon encountering longitudinal and transverse forces which are transmitted from a container to its container bracket, the pivot pin 29 of the bracket is protected from all extreme impacting forces by the novel arrangement which transmits these forces directly to the car deck.

The foregoing description and drawings merely explain and illustrate the invention and the invention is not limited thereto, except insofar as the appended claims are so limited, as those skilled in the art art who have the disclosure before them will be able to make modifications and variations therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A railroad car having a flat deck for supporting a plurality of containers comprising:

a plurality of lateral deck extensions spaced longitudinally of one another along each side of the deck,

corner bracket support member attached to each lateral I deck extension,

a comer bracket mounted on each lateral deck extension and swingable form an upright position on said deck extension to a position below such said extension, said bracket being swingable about the axis of the bracket support member mounted on the deck extension when the axis of the member is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the car,

said bracket having an upright transverse wall, said wall having an inside end surface engaging a corner end wall of an associated container and said comer bracket having an upright sidewall having an inside side surface engaging the corner sidewall of the container and a bottom wall engaging the comer bottom wall of the container and container locking means mounted in said sidewall and pivotal about a longitudinal axis of the car from an unlocked to a locked position extending in an aperture in the side corner of the container, each support member having a plate portion with a generally vertical transverse end edge, said corner bracket having a transverse hinge and said comer bracket support member having a transverse hinge and a hinge pin connecting both hinges together for pivotal movement of the comer bracket between upright and below deck positions, hinge pin having a loose fit in each of said hinges with said comer bracket hinge engaging said edge whereby longitudinal buff and draft forces are transmitted from the bracket hinge into the edge of the extension without passing into the hinge pin. 2. The invention according to claim 1, and said deck extension being a plate and said corner bracket hinge being an upright vertical lug and said corner bracket support member hinge being a horizontal plate portion attached to the underside of the extension plate portion. 3. The invention according to claim 1, and

said hinge pin extending transversely of the car through said hinges to facilitate transmissions of lateral forces from the hinges into the car.

4. The invention according to claim 1, and

said car having side sills and said extensions being spaced outwardly of the side sills.

5. The invention according to claim 1, and

said locking means including a latch means and biasing means for said latch means the force of said biasing means being of such magnitude whereby the container is held only until such biasing means forces are exceeded and upon raising of the comer of the container sufficient to overcome the biasing means, the biasing means subsequently returns the latch means to the locking position when the container has been removed.

6. The invention according to claim 1, and

said locking means including a latch means and biasing means for said latch means the force of said biasing means being of such magnitude whereby the container is held only until such biasing means forces are exceeded and upon raising of the comer of the container sufficient to overcome the biasing means, the biasing means subsequently returns the latch means to the locking position when the container has been removed,

said biasing means having an indicating pin being movable to an in view indicating position on the locking means showing the locking means is not in the locking position locking the container to the car.

7. The invention according to claim 1, and

said extensions having open space between them sufiicient to permit associated lift means to raise the corners of the container from the deck of the car.

8. The invention according to claim 1, and

said sidewall having a container corner receiving abutment means on said inside side surface,

abutment means being spaced above adjacent said hinge pin on said inside side surface and as close to the hinge pin in a vertical distance as is possible to minimize the couple forces in a transverse vertical plane through the length of the hinge pin.

9. The invention according to claim 1, and

said container locking means including a pivotal latch means extending through an opening in one of said upright walls for restraining vertical movement of the container,

a resilient means for said latch means, said pivotal latch means having a backside in contact with said resilient means and biased to protrude through the opening in said vertical wall to permit easy positioning of the container in the bracket and resist vertical movement of the restrained corner,

said pivotal latch having a nose adapted to be receivable in an adjacent opening of said container corner when the container corner is resting on the bottom wall.

10. The invention according to claim 9, and

said nose having an underside portion adjacent an edge of the opening in said container corner and said pivotal latch means pivoting upon contact between the underside portion and the edge when the contact forces are high enough to compress said resilient means thereby permitting removal of the container.

11. The invention according to claim 9, and

a housing storing said resilient means and having an opening,

said pivotal latch means including a pivoted indicator pin extending away from said pivotal latch means and through said resilient means and supported in said housing opening,

said indicator pin moving with the pivotal latch means and protruding through the opening of said housing to visibly indicate when the pivotal latch means is in an unlatched position. 

1. A railroad car having a flat deck for supporting a plurality of containers comprising: a plurality of lateral deck extensions spaced longitudinally of one another along each side of the deck, corner bracket support member attached to each lateral deck extension, a corner bracket mounted on each lateral deck extension and swingable form an upright position on said deck extension to a position below such said extension, said bracket being swingable about the axis of the bracket support member mounted on the deck extension when the axis of the member is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the car, said bracket having an upright transverse wall, said wall having an inside end surface engaging a corner end wall of an associated container and said corner bracket having an upright sidewall having an inside side surface engaging the corner sidewall of the container and a bottom wall engaging the corner bottom wall of the container and container locking means mounted in said sidewall and pivotal about a longitudinal axis of the car from an unlocked to a locked position extending in an aperture in the side corner of the container, each support member having a plate portion with a generally vertical transverse end edge, said corner bracket having a transverse hinge and said corner bracket support member having a transverse hinge and a hinge pin connecting both hinges together for pivotal movement of the corner bracket between upright and below deck positions, hinge pin having a loose fit in each of said hinges with said corner bracket hinge engaging said edge whereby longitudinal buff and draft forces are transmitted from the bracket hinge into the edge of the extension without passing into the hinge pin.
 2. The invention according to claim 1, and said deck extension being a plate and said corner bracket hinge being an upright vertical lug and said corner bracket support member hinge being a horizontal plate portion attached to the underside of the extension plate portion.
 3. The invention according to claim 1, and said hinge pin extending transversely of the car through said hinges to facilitate transmissions of lateral forces from the hinges into the car.
 4. The invention according to claim 1, and said car having side sills and said extensiOns being spaced outwardly of the side sills.
 5. The invention according to claim 1, and said locking means including a latch means and biasing means for said latch means the force of said biasing means being of such magnitude whereby the container is held only until such biasing means forces are exceeded and upon raising of the corner of the container sufficient to overcome the biasing means, the biasing means subsequently returns the latch means to the locking position when the container has been removed.
 6. The invention according to claim 1, and said locking means including a latch means and biasing means for said latch means the force of said biasing means being of such magnitude whereby the container is held only until such biasing means forces are exceeded and upon raising of the corner of the container sufficient to overcome the biasing means, the biasing means subsequently returns the latch means to the locking position when the container has been removed, said biasing means having an indicating pin being movable to an in view indicating position on the locking means showing the locking means is not in the locking position locking the container to the car.
 7. The invention according to claim 1, and said extensions having open space between them sufficient to permit associated lift means to raise the corners of the container from the deck of the car.
 8. The invention according to claim 1, and said sidewall having a container corner receiving abutment means on said inside side surface, abutment means being spaced above adjacent said hinge pin on said inside side surface and as close to the hinge pin in a vertical distance as is possible to minimize the couple forces in a transverse vertical plane through the length of the hinge pin.
 9. The invention according to claim 1, and said container locking means including a pivotal latch means extending through an opening in one of said upright walls for restraining vertical movement of the container, a resilient means for said latch means, said pivotal latch means having a backside in contact with said resilient means and biased to protrude through the opening in said vertical wall to permit easy positioning of the container in the bracket and resist vertical movement of the restrained corner, said pivotal latch having a nose adapted to be receivable in an adjacent opening of said container corner when the container corner is resting on the bottom wall.
 10. The invention according to claim 9, and said nose having an underside portion adjacent an edge of the opening in said container corner and said pivotal latch means pivoting upon contact between the underside portion and the edge when the contact forces are high enough to compress said resilient means thereby permitting removal of the container.
 11. The invention according to claim 9, and a housing storing said resilient means and having an opening, said pivotal latch means including a pivoted indicator pin extending away from said pivotal latch means and through said resilient means and supported in said housing opening, said indicator pin moving with the pivotal latch means and protruding through the opening of said housing to visibly indicate when the pivotal latch means is in an unlatched position. 